India Cosmetics Market Outlook, 2027-28

The culture of beauty is deeply rooted in India where women were raised on ancient Ayurvedic principles. They believed in the value of everyday kitchen ingredients – coconut oil for sleek and strong hair, turmeric face masks for glowing skin. These homemade remedies are centuries old, but today beauty in India is in the midst of an evolution. When it comes to Ayurvedic beauty brands, consumers are still spoilt for choice with outfits such as Vedix, Forest Essentials, and SoulTree making waves. And while there is still a huge appetite for such products, beauty consumers are more than ready to expand their horizons and explore products that may sit outside of their long-held beliefs. With thousands of people joining the ranks of India’s middle class every day, beauty brands have miles of today within skin care, serums and toners are upcoming and fast-growing categories in India room to grow in the market.

According to the report, “India Cosmetics Market Outlook, 2027-28” published by Bonafide Research, the market is anticipated to grow with more than 9.5% CAGR for 2022-2028. With the rise in the adoption of western culture, the color cosmetics market is one of the fastest-growing markets in India. As the aesthetic appeal in the young generation is rising, the penetration of color cosmetics products in the Indian market is increasing. India is estimated as one of the fastest-growing countries, in terms of color cosmetics, in the Asian region. However, Indian companies are venturing into organic color cosmetics, due to its increasing demand, among the large sections of the Indian society. Indian companies, such as Ruby’s Organics, had developed a range of makeup staples that are specifically meant for Indian skin tones and textures. Infused with bio-active oils, butter, and natural clays, their products go beyond makeup to give the extra value-added skincare, and the range of color cosmetics includes lipsticks, eye pencils, and blush, this in turn boosting the sales of color cosmetics in the country.

In India, a start-up is fast becoming the driving force of country's cosmetics market by absorbing demand from young consumers who buy affordable items on e-commerce platforms. Cosmetics retail Nykaa has teamed up with L'Oreal of France to provide a virtual makeup try-on service via smartphones. On the other hand, Purplle is one of the largest companies dealing in toners and serums today thanks its ability to identify future bestsellers based on the data it collects. The company has invested heavily into the Beauty Intelligence Suite, a tool that can help itself and its brand partners identify emerging trends by crawling through the web for information. Like women all over the world, Indian women have been subjected to obscenely unrealistic beauty standards. They have been pressured to alter their physical appearances to fit into society’s notion of beauty.

Color cosmetics dealing with eye, facial, and lip makeup category is the most prosperous industry in India. Local companies, such as Soultree, Herbal Hills, Himalaya, and The Shahnaz Husain Group among others are exclusively providing herbal/ayurvedic cosmetics products, due to the prolonged health benefits it offers for the skin. With the increasing internet penetration, the online market for the purchase of consumer goods has seen rapid growth in the last 3-4 years in India. This category has attracted a few vertical specialists, like Nykaa, Purplle, Nnnow, etc. who are riding on the increasing e-tailing growth and vying for a significant pie in the online cosmetics space. Nykaa offers more than 600 brands in both offline and online stores in India.

On the other hand, the cruelty-free (no animal testing), vegetarian (no byproducts of animal slaughter), and vegan (no animal ingredients at all) beauty market has exploded in recent years globally and has been finding its space in the Indian market too. In May 2014, the Ministry of Health & Family of India published the cosmetic testing ban, which added the new rule “148-C. prohibition of testing of cosmetics on animals, such that no person shall use any animal for testing of cosmetics” to the existing Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945. Moreover, with the advancement of vegan products in the country, Indian consumers are paying extra attention to not only a particular shade of lipstick that suits them but also about how the lipstick is made. Additionally, global vegan cosmetics companies are also venturing into the Indian market, thus expanding the scope for the same in the country.

Similarly, the skincare segment in the Indian market is flooded with natural ingredients based products at present. Demands are high for products that are formulated using key ingredients like seaweed extracts and sea salts and other mineral-rich elements. Since these ingredients being exotic are found majorly in premium skincare segment, international players can seek to occupy a large share of the total space in the premium mass segment in the future.

Many international brands like Revlon (the first international cosmetics brand to enter India in the midnineties), Avon, Burberrys, Calvin Klein, Christian Dior, Estee Lauder, L’Oreal, Max factor, Max Mara, Body Shop, Maybelline New York, MAC, Bobbi Brown and many more have been present in India for an extensive period of time. The top three players in the Indian market are international players, namely Hindustan Unilever, Colgate-Palmolive India and L'Oréal India. The other prominent international players with a strong presence in the Indian market include Gillette India, Johnson & Johnson (India), Reckitt Benckiser (India) and Procter & Gamble Home Products. In addition to that, domestic players were catching up over the review period with the emergence of the trends towards natural, herbal and Ayurvedic products. Prominent domestic players include Godrej Consumer Products, Dabur India, Marico, Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting, Emami and Patanjali Ayurved.

The obsession with beauty in India is growing and so is the beauty business. It is no longer a thing of rich and young people and neither is it just confined to a specific gender. Both for men and women from young to old, beauty has now become a priority which is pushing the Indian cosmetic market to greater heights that soon it may give a tough competition to the international ones. A lot of nature’s gifts like coconut oil, castor oil, honey, aloe vera, lemon, etc., were a part of skincare practices since time immemorial which have now turned into the most-sought ingredients in the current cosmetic industry due to the major shift in consumer behaviour i.e. the switch from chemical-based to natural products. Beauty practices are subject to change. From home remedies, celeb-influenced products, DIY methods, old-wives tales, or grandma’s secrets, to now 100% natural, vegan, cruelty-free, organic products, the cosmetic industry is like a sea-wave that keeps changing.

Further, beauty trends keep evolving and so do the Indian consumers. There was a time when the obsession with fair skin was so much that the most-sought product was the fairness cream. Today, with a lot of movement towards skin tones pride, social media campaigns, and real advertisements, the face of Indian beauty is changing and now cosmetics are available in every skin tone for every gender and age. Another major change that we can see in the Indian cosmetic market is in men’s grooming. A lot of innovation has happened in the men’s sector. Earlier when only shaving cream and deodorants were the only few products available for men in the cosmetic and personal care section, now has a wide range of products which includes – fairness cream, hair removal creams, moisturizes, bread growth and maintaining products, sunscreen, chapsticks, hair styling products.

However, apart from the mixed needs of Indian consumers, the climate in India is also a major challenge for cosmetic brands. Since the Indian climate is totally unpredictable as well as extreme, for a cosmetic product to survive, it has become a necessity to develop it such that it can withstand any sudden and severe climatic changes in India. Therefore, many Indian as well as international cosmetic brands, are experimenting with traditional as well as innovative solutions to develop products, especially for Indian consumers.

Due to the development of satellite television and a number of television channels as well as the Internet in the modern day, the Indian consumers are constantly being updated about new cosmetic products, translating into the desire to purchase them. Additionally, the flourishing Indian fashion/film industry is fuelling growth into the Cosmetic industry in India by making Indians to realize the importance of having good looks and appearances. Today most of the cosmetics manufacturers in India cater to the domestic market but they are gradually establishing their footholds in overseas markets.

With social distancing set to become a lifestyle, at least until the number of active cases drops and most of the population is vaccinated, digitalization will have long term effects on distribution channels in the beauty sector, even older consumers are increasingly accustomed to online shopping. Companies will need to concentrate their efforts on new platforms as well as on immersive technology like AR and VR to win consumer loyalty. The second wave may confine some groups of consumers to their houses in 2021 as well, which creates an opportunity for brands to explore options that mirror the in-person sales experience, using augmented reality for virtual tutorials or to try on makeup, for example. The main challenge will be overcoming wariness due to consumer concerns about privacy and safety risks.

Recent Developments
• In 2021, Colorbar has launched what it describes as India’s first-ever customisable makeup palette with 12 custom designed cases and a selection of eyeshadow, blushers, and highlighters to choose from.
• In 2021, Bloomers has come up with an indie brand, Colours Cosmetics that serves the customers through local pharmacies and marts. The brand aims to offer a wide range of products encompassing everything from foundations to lipsticks and to bust the misconception that drug store makeup is low in price and inferior in quality.
• In July 2020, luxury brand Sulwhasoo was officially launched into the Indian market through Nykaa. Sulwhasoo has launched skincare solutions and high-performance products from Korean ginseng that are all about balance, formulation, quality of ingredients, and potency, since been delivering results.
• Indian companies, such as Ruby’s Organics, had developed a range of makeup staples that are specifically meant for Indian skin tones and textures. Infused with bio-active oils, butter, and natural clays, their products go beyond makeup to give the extra value-added skincare, and the range of color cosmetics includes lipsticks, eye pencils, and blush, this in turn boosting the sales of color cosmetics in the country.

Covid-19 Impacts:
While the cosmetics industry could be relatively strong as compared to other categories of consumers, the year 2020 has been very poor in terms of sales. However, it is being said that this industry would still remain to be attractive in coming future. The pandemic related crisis accentuates the trends which shape the market like a rise in use of Ecommerce rather than touching a new ground altogether. Almost all segments of this industry have witnessed a similar kind of downfall in terms of sales during COVID-19 because of closing of the offline stores at different locations throughout.

“India Cosmetic Market Outlook, 2027-28” discusses the following aspects of cosmetics in India:

The report gives an in-depth understanding of cosmetic market in India:
- India Cosmetic Market Outlook
- India Fragrance Market Size By Value & Forecast
- India Fragrance Market Segmental Analysis: By Company, By Segment
- India Skin Care Market Size By Value & Forecast
- India Skin Care Market Segmental Analysis: By Company, By Segment
- India Hair Care Market Size By Value & Forecast
- India Hair Care Market Segmental Analysis: By Company, By Segment
- India Oral Care Market Size By Value & Forecast
- India Oral Care Market Segmental Analysis: By Company, By Segment
- India Color Cosmetic Market Size By Value & Forecast
- India Color Cosmetic Market Segmental Analysis: By Company, By Segment
- The key vendors in this market space

This report can be useful to Industry consultants, manufacturers and other stakeholders to align their market-centric strategies. In addition to marketing & presentations, it will also increase competitive knowledge about the industry.

Report Methodology
The information contained in this report is based upon both primary and secondary research. Primary research included interviews with various channel partners of cosmetic brands in India. Secondary research included an exhaustive search of relevant publications like company annual reports, financial reports and proprietary databases.

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Manmayi Raval

Research Consultant

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